Carry that Wait: NPR loosens up with popular quiz show

Kirk Baird

Thursday, Oct. 3, 2002 | 8:29 a.m.

"Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" is an hourlong current-events quiz show with a wacky and humorous bent.

So what's the program doing on the somewhat stodgy National Public Radio?

"I like to say we're public radio without the dignity," the show's host Peter Sagal said from the "Wait Wait" offices at Chicago public radio station WBEZ.

"A lot of people come up to us and say that we're a wonderful break, a punctuation at the end of their week."

"Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" airs at 11 a.m. to noon Saturdays on KNPR 89.5-FM.

The program is in town to tape a live show at 7:30 tonight at Sam's Town Live!, which will air this weekend. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

The quiz-show format is simple. Callers from around the country call in to answer various news-related questions such as guessing true news stories among manufactured items, or trying to fill in the last line of a news-based limerick.

Other contests include "Historical Reenactment Theater," where the Second City troupe in Chicago acts out 10-second skits of news events, with listeners trying to guess what the comedy sketch is about; and "Not My Job," where NPR hosts and celebrities answer questions on topics outside their areas of expertise.

Gene Simmons from the rock band Kiss, actor Dan Castellaneta from "The Simpsons" and "Frasier's" John Mahoney have appeared on the show as part of "Not My Job."

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is scheduled to appear as this week's celebrity "Not My Job" contestant.

The scripting process for the show takes place early in the week, with Sagal and the "Wait Wait" writers scouring newspapers and the Internet for stories.

"I don't think the show can exist without the Internet," he said. "Almost every newspaper in the world has an Internet addition. So, even if it's someplace odd, they'll have Internet coverage and we can go get it."

After spending the early part of the week accumulating stories for the show, on Thursday Sagal and the show's writing staff "write like maniacs" to put together all the segments.

On Friday morning, a 90-minute version of "Wait Wait" is recorded, which is edited down to an hour before the show airs Saturday.

Coming to Las Vegas, however, simply speeds up the process, with the show being recorded on Thursday night and edited early Friday. This leaves more time for Sagal to take in Las Vegas, which he has planned into his schedule.

But more than just having a weekend vacation, going on the road with "Wait Wait" is a "fairly big deal" for the cast and crew, Sagal said.

"It's become a highlight each year," he said. "We're a new show."

The "new-show feel" is due, in part, to the fact that the crew is in separate cities when the show tapes on Fridays, and is forced to rely on ISD lines to converse.

For example, Carl Kasell, the "official scorekeeper" who also records an answering machine message for the show's various winners, is in Washington, D.C., during the recording sessions. And panelist Sue Elliot is in Los Angeles.

For the Las Vegas show, panelists Roxanne Roberts, Charlie Pierce and Roy Blount Jr. will be in attendance.

"We're all smoked Virginia hams. We love getting in front of an audience," Sagal joked. "I love it when I can see they make noises of approval and when they make noises of disapproval."

A stage actor and director by trade, Sagal was lured into hosting the radio gig by a friend who thought he would make the perfect host for the humor-themed current events quiz show.

"My only qualification for this job is that I listened to Public Radio religiously," he said.

That, and Sagal -- as is the rest of the "Wait Wait" staff -- was a news junkie.

When "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me" debuted five years ago, it was broadcast on seven public radio stations.

Today, more than a million listeners tune in to "Wait Wait" each weekend on more than 250 stations nationwide.

"I think when we started doing the show, there was a real pressure for us to be funny and amusing. And it showed," Sagal said. "It was the same form, but different content. We had this on-the-air adolescence I wouldn't recommend to anyone.

"Then we started talking about the things that we thought were funny and the things that we would say to each other. (And) we came out on the other side."

Flo Rogers, KNPR program director, said "Wait Wait" is one of the station's more popular programs, with approximately 8,000 listeners weekly, according to Arbitron.

"In the five years it's been on the air, it's gone from being nobody knowing it was on, to being one of the most popular programs in all of Public Radio," she said. "That's why it's on Saturday morning. We know people are listening."

KNPR was also the instigator in bringing "Wait Wait" to Las Vegas, Rogers said.

The station worked with local organizations to help pick up the cost in bringing "Wait Wait" to town, and ultimately was responsible only for the airfare necessary to fly the show's staff to Las Vegas.

And by taking in a percentage of the show's ticket sales, she said the tonight's program will be a small revenue generator for the radio station.

But getting "Wait Wait" to agree to taping the show in Las Vegas was relatively easy, Rogers said.

"It's public radio, a collegial system, a lot of people know each other," she said, adding: "It's not difficult to persuade Public Radio people to come to Las Vegas. They're underpaid and willingly will offer to come to your station if you'll put them up in a hotel and pay for their plane fare."